(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an operational status determination device and an operational status determination method which determine an operational status of an electrical appliance operating in a home environment. In particular, the present invention relates to an operational status determination device and an operational status determination method which determine whether the electrical device operates automatically by, for example, a timer function or is operated manually by a user.
(2) Description of the Related Art
In recent years, many electrical appliances, and more specifically, household electrical appliances, are used in a home, and a household power consumption is thus increasing. With this being the situation, a device has been proposed which supports energy saving to reduce electric power wasted by electrical appliances. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-152499 (referred to as Patent Reference 1 hereafter) discloses an automatic power-off device intended for home use. This device detects a standby power consumption of a household electrical appliance using a circuit for detecting a minute electric current, and then disconnects the power from a wall socket at a conclusion of a set elapsed time. Moreover, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-348669 (referred to as Patent Reference 2 hereafter) discloses an electrical appliance which disconnects power supply when determining that a remote control is not in use and that the electrical appliance is in a standby state.